Kaveh's Zen with Camera

Category: Macro

Ranunculus Arvensis (Corn Buttercup, Devil-on-all-sides, Scratch Bur) is a plant species of the genus Ranunculus. It was formerly a common annual arable weed in Britain, but is now rare.

Ranunculus is a large genus of about 400 species of plants in the Ranunculaceae. It includes the buttercups, spearworts, water crowfoots and the lesser celandine (but not the greater celandine of the poppy family Papaveraceae). They are mostly herbaceous perennials with bright yellow or white flowers (if white, still with a yellow centre); some are annuals or biennials. A few have orange or red flowers and occasionally, as in R. auricomus, petals may be absent. The petals are often highly lustrous, especially in yellow species.

All Ranunculus species are poisonous when eaten fresh by cattle, horses, and other livestock, but their acrid taste and the blistering of the mouth caused by their poison means they are usually left uneaten.

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I found this flower on our return way from one of the valleys of Arasbaran Biosphere protected area, I couldn’t believe how tiny and cute it was… It is almost 5mm in diameter… 🙂

In one of the foothill valleys of Mt. Sahand, I had a wonderful chance to shoot an interesting moment. The heros of our story are Mr. Bad Spider and the tiny clever Aphid… 😀

There was an old cut off tree trunk in the valley, full of wood-bugs and Aphids (also known as plant lice, are small plant-feeding insects, members of the superfamily Aphidoidea) on/in it, and nearly about as many as 50 spiders had also invaded the old chump of this tree to serve themselves a meal out of these wood-bugs & aphids. I was busy shooting close-up macro photos of these spiders when I was lucky enough to witness this scene & shoot it on the right instance (aphids & wood-bugs were so small & it was hard to focus on them & shoot, since there was a chase’n run going on between spiders & them)…

…overwhelmed by the fear & knowing not what to do & how to escape the spider invasion, a tiny Aphid was wandering on the tree, when a spider saw & headed towards it. The spider was the size of a monster in comparison to this tiny creature. The aphid was clever enough to immediately hide from this giant hunter, inside a tiny crack of the tree skin.

After a while, when the spider couldn’t find a trace of its tiny prey, it headed back to search for another one & While the spider was receding back, our tiny green friend came out of its hiding place & gave this impressing look to the spider as it was going farther, maybe thinking about the close-call & threatening experience of its recent moment, and at the same time feeling a mixture of luck, happiness and fear in itself…” 😉 😀

I didn’t even know that I’d pressed the shutter on that moment, but afterwards when reviewing my photos, when I saw this closeup view of the story I somehow felt wierd 😀 it was like, u know that I was the same size of the aphid & had lived those moments myself… 😀

Anyway… this shot is one of the many hard to capture and rare occasions in my photography… where, as u can see a Buckeye butterfly (Junonia coenia species, commonly names Buckeye butterfly because of the distinctive bold pattern of eyespots and white bars on the upper wing surface in much of its range) meets a Hoverfly (Flies in the Syrphidae family of the Diptera superfamily are commonly known as hoverflies, flower flies, or Syrphid flies) on air 😀 due to the heavy air traffic !? 😉 or maybe just because the Hoverfly awaits his turn in the queue to get his grab of sweet flower juice…? 🙄 oh I’m way too tired to guess the rest & other possibilities… 😛

Here’s a shot of a strange & acceptably rare species of flower, at least maybe in our country. Its from the Liliaceae (Lily) family. Scientific name of this flower is “Muscari commutatum”, & the common name for it is “Dark Grape Hyacinth” or “Narrow Leaved Grape Hyacinth”.

It truly has a strong odor & is slightly juicy & i feel its a little poisonous & not healthy to eat 😉 but however i think all the plants on earth are eatable but u can only eat some just once… 😀 u know…

Musk is the name originally given to a substance with a penetrating odor obtained from a gland of the male musk deer, which is situated between its stomach and genitals. The substance has been used as a popular perfume fixative since ancient times and is one of the most expensive animal products in the world. The name, originated from Sanskrit mu?ká meaning “testicle” (as in a ’single’ testicle).

The etymology of the name musk, originating from Sanskrit mu?ká via Middle Persian mušk (Moshk), Late Greek -?????? (moschos), Late Latin muscus, Middle French musc and Middle English muske, hints at its trade route.

Muscari = Musk (or Moshk in persian), referring to the scent of its flowers (Greek); Musk, which as was explained above is a greasy secretion with a powerful odor, produced in a glandular sac beneath the skin of the abdomen of the male musk deer and used in the manufacture of perfumes.

commutatum = changeable, changed or changing; used for a species that is very similar to one already known. (Latin).